Foolproof
by GottaGoBuyCheese
Summary: When word of war reaches the small river town of Gaipan, a young girl disguises herself as a soldier, determined to defend her country to her last breath. Unbeknownst to her, she is not the only one. One-shot. AU.


**Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Korra (obviously).**

When the war started and the emperor began calling forth his citizens to defend their nation, Korra knew she had to go. She couldn't just sit by and do nothing while those ruthless invaders attacked her people. So the night before the recruiter was due to arrive at her village, she devised a plan to sneak into the emperor's army. A foolproof plan, really. She was more than a little impressed with herself about how great a plan it was—because it was a _really_ great plan.

Long after her parents retired for the night, Korra, a whalebone blade clutched in one hand, a candle held in the other, snuck outside to the river at the edge of their property. Kneeling by riverbank, Korra gripped her long, dark brown hair with one hand and, closing her eyes, used the other to swing her knife through it, chopping it off with all the precision of a fully trained warrior. Dark locks fluttered to the ground, but Korra was careful. She picked up every last strand she could find in the dim light of the cattle and threw it into the river. Then, picking up the candle and the blade, she returned the way she came.

Korra woke up early the next morning, determined to get out of the house before either of her parents woke up. The sun peeked out from behind the distant mountains, casting a pleasant, periwinkle glow throughout the land. Leaving a quick note behind for her parents—_Gone to the market to get fresh meat. Early birdfrog gets the beetle-worm!_—she forewent her usual attire for something less overtly feminine. She replaced her sleeveless, skyblue top for a loose earth-colored tunic, and in place of her typical blue trousers, she wore a pair of loose green pants. She tied a green sash around her waist to finish the look. After a quick glance in the mirror—she would have to buy more clothes—she bounded out the door and down the street to the main part of the village.

It didn't take very long to find the recruiter's tent, and without a second thought, Korra ducked under the flap and signed up under her pseudonym. Kuruk was an old family name, but it was similar enough to her own that she wouldn't forget to respond to it. When she was leaving the booth, Korra thought she got a few weird looks from some of the other people who had signed up, but it didn't worry her too much. Once she was in her armor, she'd _really_ look like a boy.

Besides, it wasn't like she was the weirdest-looking one there. There had been some other guy behind her, a bit taller than her with thick black hair that tied back in a short but elegant ponytail, that couldn't look more like he didn't belong. His nervous, lime-green eyes flicked from side to side as though he was afraid of being caught standing in public, and his clothes were ridiculously oversized, accentuating his already slim frame. He stood with a slight hunch, and his voice was comically high. When he spoke to the recruiter, he reminded Korra of her mother when they had guests over at their house. Korra snorted; she had a deeper voice than that when even when she wasn't acting! Smirking to herself, Korra left the tent and headed down the path to the marketplace. That guy wouldn't last a week.

That night, Korra broke the news to her parents. Their reactions weren't unexpected—_you're barely twenty, you can't fight in a war, you don't even have to_—but that didn't make it any easier. After a few shouting matches and several apologies, Korra found herself wrapped in her mother's tight embrace, her father joining in from behind. Tears ran down all their faces, her mother crying hardest of all, but there was nothing more they could do. The recruits had to leave the next morning, and now that she had signed up, there was absolutely no backing out. Deserting was punishable by death, and if they exposed her as the girl she was...well, no one wanted to think about that.

The next morning, Korra and the rest of the recruits bid their village goodbye, none of them voicing the one fear they all shared: that this would be the last time they saw it. Word was the battles were getting more frequent and more violent. Only Raava knew how many of them would be coming back.

The training was relatively easy. Korra felt no small amount of pride as she practically danced through the exercises while the other men were gasping for breath behind her. What did surprise her, though, was how well that that other boy was doing, the tall, awkward one with eyes like spring. Over dinner, Korra learned he'd been taking self-defence lessons for fifteen years. After a group of bandits burned down his home and killed his mother when he was just six years old, his father wanted to make sure he would always be able to protect himself. Smart guy, Korra thought to herself. Aloud, she expressed her amazement at his unique fighting style and agreed to give him a few lessons on traditional southern warrior form in exchange for lessons from him. And just like that, a new friendship was formed.

Several days later, they met up met up with the rest of the soldiers and became official members of the emperor's army. Donning her dark green uniform, Korra struck a pose for her newly uniformed friend, puffing out her chest as she flexed her arms, admiring the shiny metal shoulder pads. The boy, Samo, brought a hand to his mouth in an effort to restrain his laughter. Korra grinned, thinking nothing of the warmth in her cheeks or the fluttering in her stomach. It was a beautiful sound.

The light-hearted fun stopped after their first battle. Half their unit was slaughtered, and many more were too injured to continue fighting. The other units fared no better. That night at the campfire, looking around at a ring of people a fraction of the size it had been the night before and fifty times as quiet, Korra let the rage and grief building inside her course through her veins and down her cheeks. This was real. There was no going back. She felt a weight fall against her shoulder, and when she turned to push it off, she met Samo's tearful lime-green gaze, burning with anguish and determination. Wordlessly, she turned her head back to face the fire, letting Samo rest his tired head on her shoulder as she stared at the golden flames. By the time the last of the embers had gone out, Korra was fast asleep, her head lying limply atop Samo's, her breathing in sync with his. When they awoke the next morning to find themselves in the same position they had fallen asleep, they leaped away from each other, their faces bright red and hotter than the sun. Babbled apologies to each other and promising never to speak of it again, the two went their separate ways to beginning morning exercises. Korra tried to ignore the disappointment pooling in her stomach; if only they hadn't had to wake up.

Months passed, as did the battles, and a simple attraction had grown into a full-out infatuation. Korra tried her very hardest not to be obvious about it—though it wasn't unheard of for two men to be in a romantic relationship with each other, especially in the army, it wasn't exactly common—but with Samo being so agile and caring and fierce, it was hard to reign in her admiration. But whenever she praised him, he got all flustered and cherry-faced, stuttering over his otherwise smooth words and finding an excuse to be somewhere else. Korra frowned to herself, lip jutting out in her signature pout as Samo _yet again_ scurried away to the bathroom—well, the trenches. She needed to work on her act.

Another couple of months passed, but after a long, ferocious battle lasting three weeks, victory was theirs. The leader of the invading forces met with the general and agreed on the terms of surrender, promising to fork over a vast swath of territory to the north and west as well as to pay tribute to their nation for the next several decades. When they returned to the capital city, the celebrations lasted a full week, by the end of which everyone was so drunk or so spent that they had to wait another day before returning home.

On the eve of their departure, after listening to yet another round of praise and thanks from the townspeople, Korra returned to the inn she was staying at, ready to hang up her uniform for good, only to find Samo, still uniformed, hurrying out the door, distress written blatantly across his face. Without a second thought, Korra spun on her heel and followed him down the streets, weaving between people and leaping over fruit stands to keep him in her line of sight. Her pursuit brought her to ledge at the northern edge of the city, overlooking a vast expanse of forest before transitioning into grassland and finally to sand, the Northern Sea twinkling at the edge of the horizon. Korra gasped, her breath taken away by the beauty of the northern sunset. In all her twenty years of living, never had she seen a sunset as beautiful as this one. After a few minutes of gazing at the horizon in wordless awe, Korra turned around, almost heading back the way she came before a shape in her periphery reminded her why she came her in the first place. Shaking her head, she turned around and walked slowly toward her friend, apprehension and concern battling for dominance within her. Settling down beside him, Korra bumped her shoulder against his, letting him know that she was there. For a while, nothing was said. Then—

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Samo stared straight ahead, his eyes fixed on the golden rays of the dying sun.

"It really is." _Not as beautiful as you_. Feeling her cheeks catch fire again, Korra jerked her head forward, resolutely _not_ looking at Samo. "The days sure are long up here." No sooner had the words left her mouth than she wanted to smack herself in the forehead. _The days are long? Seriously?_

Beside her, Samo laughed, a light, tinkling sound that fit perfectly in the tranquility of the sunset. "Yeah, well, this _is_ the northern border after all. Days are longer in the summers up here."

"Heh heh, yeah," Korra laughed sheepishly, one hand rubbing the back of her neck as she tried to fight the blush creeping up her cheeks. "Guess I forgot about that."

Samo merely smiled at her. Their gazes met, and for a moment, the world narrowed to just the two of them, everything else fading into the background. Korra felt herself lean forward slightly, her eyelids half-closed, and she could've sworn Samo was doing the same, but before anything happened, Samo turned bright red and recoiled, coughing a comically fake cough as he turned his attention on the sunset one more. Korra felt embarrassment claw its way up her throat, but she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed too. She tried to think of something to say, anything to dispel this unbearable awkwardness between them, but before she could, Samo spoke again. "Some celebration, huh?"

"Heh, yeah. These city folk sure know how to throw a party."

"You said it." The fell into silence again, though this one was much more comfortable than the last.

"Hey, Samo?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't want to pry or anything, but when you were leaving the inn earlier, you looked kinda upset. You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to, obviously, but, uh, I'm all ears, if there's anything you need to say."

"Oh, it was nothing, it's just—" Samo broke off, determination hardening his eyes. "Actually, I do need to say something." He took a deep breath and squared his shoulders, turning to face her again. "Kuruk, when I signed up for this war, I never expected to meet someone like you. We started out as comrades, and then we became sparring partners, and now..."

Korra smiled at her, blue eyes twinkling. "And now we're friends."

"Yeah," Samo agreed, the corner of his mouth quirking up in the beginnings of a smile. "We are friends." His expression fell again. "But...I can't, in good conscience, call myself yours if I'm not being completely honest with you." He braced himself. "The truth is—"

"Wait," Korra interrupted, holding up a hand as she picked up the direction this conversation was headed. "Before you tell me, I have to tell you something, too. I haven't been one hundred percent honest with you, either, so before tell me this huge secret of yours, I have to tell you the truth."

Samo looked a bit miffed. "Kuruk, I don't mean to sound rude or anything, but I'm pretty sure what I'm about to say is quite a bit bigger than anything you can come up with."

Korra just smirked. "Oh, you are _so_ underestimating me. Trust me, you need to hear this first before you spill your guts to me."

"No, no, _you_ trust _me_ when I say you've got to hear me out before you trust me with anything else."

"Nope, I think you're mistaken. You really should hear me out first."

"Seriously, Kuruk, I need to get this off my chest before you trust me with any more secrets."

"Um, no, I'm pretty sure it's the other way around, 'cause I've been hiding this thing for eight months and I need to fully earn _your_ trust before you confide in me something as supposedly big as what you're about to say."

"Okay, first of all, you _have_ my full trust, no need to earn it, and second of all, I've been hiding this for eight months, too, and I really think you're being rather inconsiderate, seeing as I was talking first."

"Please, Samo? I can't let you be a hundred percent honest with me if I'm not a hundred percent honest with you."

"Kuruk—"

"Oh, wait, I've got it! How about on the count of three, we just yell it?"

"...Come again?"

"You heard me! Just, like, I'll count to three—like, one, two, three—and then we just—I don't know, just blurt it out at the same time."

"We won't even be able to hear each other."

"Sure we will! Besides, even if we don't hear it completely, at least we would be honest. Then we can just tell each other again."

"Still sounds like a pretty bad idea."

"Oh, come on, Samo, it's foolproof!"

"Hardly."

"Come on, please?"

"..."

"Pretty please?" Aaaand there were the polar bear pup eyes.

"...Fine."

Korra pumped her first in the air in victory. "Yes! Okay, on the count of three—"

"Wait, on three or after three?"

"After three. Like, one, two, three, and then you yell it out for all the world to hear."

"Um...right" A deep breath. "Okay, I'm ready."

"Okay, here I go then." Korra to a moment to compose herself. "One...two...three."

"_I'm a girl!_"

"_I'm a girl!"_

The words stayed suspended in the air for a moment, neither girl fully comprehending what the other had said, but when they did, the two friends stared dumbly at each other, mouths hanging open in disbelief.

"Wait a minute..."

"Are you saying...?"

"No way..."

"Ha, that was yours too?" And then Korra was laughing harder than she had in months, arms wrapped around her abdomen as she wheezed for breath.

"Kuruk, this isn't funny!" Samo tried to glare at her, but he—no, _she_, she—was too embarrassed to do anything but look at the sky. "And here I thought I was crushing on some cute, dorky _guy_." Green eyes widening, she clamped her mouth shut, her face going tomato red.

Korra stared, her mouth forming a perfect "o" shape. "Wait," she said, a sly grin taking over her face. "You were crushing on me?"

"Spirits, this is so _embarrassing_." Samo's face was in her hands, but Korra could still see the red tips of her ears.

She laughed, feeling as though a huge weight had been taken off her shoulders. "Are you kidding? This is hilarious! And, quite awesome, to be frank. I mean, I was crushing on you too, so..."

Samo lifted her head from her hands, turning her skeptical gaze onto Korra. "What? Really?"

"Oh yeah, totally!" Korra relaxed, throwing her arms behind her head as she leaned back against the ground, one ankle propped up against her knee. "I mean, at first I thought you were kinda weird, 'cause you acted all nervous and your voice was really high and you walked and talked funny and stuff—which makes total sense now, considering you're a girl—but, I dunno, we started talking and we became really good friends and then, I dunno, eventually I started noticing what a pretty laugh you have and how much I love seeing you smile and how warm and fuzzy you'd make me feel when you talked to me at dinner and it occurred to me that, hey, these are not very platonic thoughts I'm having, so maybe—crazy idea—I like this guy! Well, girl, now, I guess." Samo said nothing, continuing to stare at with her piercing green eyes. The silence stretched long enough for Korra to register her words, and when she did, she felt herself blush madly. She sat up straight, turn her head away. "Actually, you're right; this _is_ embarrassing," she muttered. "Spirits, I sound like a love-struck idiot, don't I?"

"No, no!" Samo exclaimed, placing a hand on her hand. "You don't sound like an idiot at all, Kuruk," she stressed. "That was really sweet."

"Okay, now you're just flattering me!" Korra blushed, flicking her other hand Samo's way. She couldn't keep the grin off her face, though. Still smiling, she turned over the hand that was under Samo's and took her hand in her grip. _So warm_. "So, now what?"

"What do you mean, 'now what'?"

"I mean, well, we're both, uh, not guys, so..."

"So...?"

"So, is that okay? I mean, it's totally okay for me! I just didn't want to assume anything, 'cause, y'know—"

"Kuruk."

"Yes?"

"I fell for _you_. You personally. Your being a girl doesn't change that."

"...Oh. Uh, okay then." Silence. "So, uh, is Samo your real name, or what? 'Cause I borrowed Kuruk from my great-great-great-great grandfather."

"No, it's not. My real name is Asami."

"Asami." Korra felt the name roll off her tongue. Oh yes, that was _perfect_, that this wonderful girl should have such a beautiful, elegant name. "Asami. A beautiful name for a beautiful girl."

Asami blushed, rolling her eyes. "Now who's doing the flattering?" She cleared her throat. "Anyway, if Kuruk isn't your real name, what is?"

"Korra."

"...And you said _my_ name is pretty."

Heat rushed to Korra's face, and she bit her lip. "Oh, for the love of Raava, _stop_, you're going to kill me with all these compliments!"

"Fat chance, considering you lasted eight months of war." Suddenly, the mood got heavier, both of them remember the circumstances under which they met. "Korra, I know the last few months have probably been some of the hardest of our lives, and maybe it's selfish of me to say, but I want you know I don't regret meeting you."

"Me neither."

Asami snorted, smirked at her. "Well, I didn't realize it was so pleasing to meet yourself."

"What?" Korra's words caught up with her. "Oh, n-no, ha, that's—that's not what I mean, heh heh. I meant, well . . ." She swallowed. "I don't regret meeting you either." She sighed contentedly, a warm smile overtaking her face. "It's a pleasure to officially meet you, Asami."

"Likewise, Korra."

They stayed that way for a while longer, hand in hand, shoulder against shoulder, content to finally lean on each other with no barriers between them. They probably would have stayed like that all night if Korra hadn't nearly dislocated her jaw yawning, snapping them both out of their bliss.

Korra blinked hard, eyes adjusting to the darkness of her surroundings."Oh, wow, it got dark."

"Really, now?"

"Hey, I was just making an observation!"

"One you probably should've made a long time ago, considering the sun's been gone for a couple hours."

"Well, I guess I didn't notice because you light up my whole world anyway."

"...That was so unbelievably cheesy, but I'll let it slide."

"Ha."

"Anyway, we should probably head back now. We have to get up early tomorrow."

"Oh, yeah, ew. I hate getting up early. Mornings are evil."

"You got up early for eight months."

"Doesn't mean I like it."

"Well, all the more reason to be heading back now."

"All right, then, lead the way, Miss Asami."

"Right this way, Miss Korra."

**A/N**: Aaaaand that's why I don't write romance. Let the record show that I tried. Honestly, I would've drawn it instead, but I have neither the skill nor the time to do so, so maybe later. Anyway, do feel free to point out any and all typos, grammar errors, etc. that you find in this semi-decent-but-not-really-piece-of-supposed-writing, and if you've got any tips or criticisms or anything, I would be much obliged. Thank you for your time, and have a nice . . . whatever time of day it is wherever you are. See you next story!

**AS OF SUN. 5/31/15:** So I just realized that I could respond to guest reviews for my one-shots here, so I'm gonna go ahead and do that now, if it's not too late. Sorry!

To _Guest _and _Korrasami 3_: Thanks so much, you guys! Glad you liked it! Hope I can meet your standards next time, too!


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